2021 NBA Offseason Thread

[Rich]

Exactly. And the thing was, my Ricky Williams comparison wasn't about smoking weed, either.

It was about a guy who decided he loved things more than the game and then QUIT THE GAME.

So if Kyrie wants to a full-time activist (and we're honestly just assigning that to him so he looks better. There's no evidence that that's why he's missing time right now) then go be a full-time activist and stop playing ball. He can afford it.

 

[Los216]

Look I'm on the left politically as everyone can tell but come on this is ludicrous IMO. If he wants to become a full time activist then become a full time activist. Don't dick around getting paid millions of dollars for not doing what is in your contract and screw over both teammates and your fans by half assing it..

If you make a commitment keep your commitment and if you want to change be honest about it. Kyrie I hope certainly has made enough money that he doesn't have to worry about quitting his massive contract and if he does so all the more power to him. But this 1/2 ass stuff shows immaturity. Muhammad Ali didn't box when he made his decision, Pat Tillman went to freakin Afganistan, this just looks to me like a person who has good intentions but doesn't know a thing about sacrifice. And if I'm being sanctimonious, you can just see what Lebron has accomplished off court and see the level of commitment he has to the game

Why does how much money he's making matter?

And what is he half assing? Didn't he just have like an efficient 30 point game in the last game he played?

All I'm saying is fans should not be policing players activism or what they put their resources in. If guys want to make music, design clothes, build schools, feed homeless, make movies, or get into politics as long as they are working out whatever it is with their team what are we even policing?

We do not know why he's even missing these games and until the teams gives a definitive stance which they have not yet, we should probably avoid jumping to conclusions.

This is just like how people talk shit about James Harden tricking off in strip clubs yet he's still gives you 30 and 15 whenever he feels like it.

All of these guys are already at a high enough level where questioning their work ethic towards the game isn't fair especially if you have to invoke what they do off the court to make a point.

Next thing we're gonna do is tell players who shoot a low free throw percentage that they should stop streaming video games until they get their percentage up?

 

[Pioneer10]

Why does how much money he's making matter?

And what is he half assing? Didn't he just have like an efficient 30 point game in the last game he played?

All I'm saying is fans should not be policing players activism or what they put their resources in. If guys want to make music, design clothes, build schools, feed homeless, make movies, or get into politics as long as they are working out whatever it is with their team what are we even policing?

We do not know why he's even missing these games and until the teams gives a definitive stance which they have not yet, we should probably avoid jumping to conclusions.

This is just like how people talk shit about James Harden tricking off in strip clubs yet he's still gives you 30 and 15 whenever he feels like it.

All of these guys are already at a high enough level where questioning their work ethic towards the game isn't fair especially if you have to invoke what they do off the court to make a point.

Next thing we're gonna do is tell players who shoot a low free throw percentage that they should stop streaming video games until they get their percentage up?

This is an incoherent post and I would recommend you take a serious look at the argumentation as you are writing from the heart and not with logic. i.e. it's a reflex post to defend someone you like.

-It's not about how much money he makes: when you sign a contract, you have to fulfill that contract and if you don't they're and should be repercussions with it. In addition, this is not just half assign this is ditching his teammates, not informing his team or a rookie coach who he basically demanded be hired. He is NOT even showing up to games, practice and in no way compares to Harden who at the least everyone knew what he wanted which was a trade. The team has come out and made it clear that they have not been given an answer or at least for a significant portion of his absence

-You are mixing up work ethic, minimal responsibility, and off work activities and they are not the same. A point which has to be made is again Lebron James shows up to each game, works really hard, and whether you like his politics or not clearly puts in effort to charity and the like. Kyrie Irving showing up at a Zoom meeting is not an excuse to not fulfill his duties as an NBA player full stop

 

[Rich]

Yea Los man..everyone else manages to get up, go to work, and then do other shit in the world, whatever those things may be.

Irving works, on average, less tha nthe rest of us and has more money than all of us.

I think the man can manage to put together a work-life schedule where he fulfills his extremely lucrative contract and still get out in the world and do w/e it is he wants to do.

The rest of us proletariat can manage it. I think the super wealthy basketball player can figure it out.

I dunno why you rush to these guys defense as if they have it so damn hard and need special treatment. They're already getting special treatment. Life is already better for them than 99.999% of the rest of the world. He can play ball and be part of a political movement.

 

[LeeBuckeye]

The Kyrie stuff reminds me of his road trippin’ podcast where he mentioned quitting before he turned 30 and likened himself to Lauren Hill.

Lauren Hill once said “how did this thing that I love so much so easily and so quickly turn into something I loathe and hate?” Kyrie loves basketball but I think hates how it consumes all of his time. KD has tethered his career to Kyrie so I’m sure he’s feeling a little uneasy right now.

IMO, he needs to find a balance while honoring his contract. I remember Rose disappearing without notifying his team to deal with a family matter. Cavs had that famous 2 week hiatus LeBron took. Announced he wasn’t playing right before tip-off to the coaches surprise then took time off. His back wasn’t in the best shape if I remember correctly but he was also unhappy and was back in Miami for the bulk of that absence.

 

[CavsFan07]

And by the way, who in the hell was this too?



We're criticizing Kyrie Irving because he's not playing basketball for undisclosed personal reasons (apparently undisclosed to his team, too) while being spotted at parties w/o a mask. No one said one single thing about any activism he's taking part in. You just imagined it.

Exactly.. I don't even know what he's referencing since literally nobody questioned or faulted his activism in this thread.... definitely not that I've seen

He's a superstar on a world stage who isn't reporting to work / his team... Heaven forbid the millions of people around the world who know who he is / follow him might have a discussion about him not showing up. What horrible people they are!

 

[CavsFan07]

The Kyrie stuff reminds me of his road trippin’ podcast where he mentioned quitting before he turned 30 and likened himself to Lauren Hill.

Lauren Hill once said “how did this thing that I love so much so easily and so quickly turn into something I loathe and hate?” Kyrie loves basketball but I think hates how it consumes all of his time. KD has tethered his career to Kyrie so I’m sure he’s feeling a little uneasy right now.

IMO, he needs to find a balance while honoring his contract. I remember Rose disappearing without notifying his team to deal with a family matter. Cavs had that famous 2 week hiatus LeBron took. Announced he wasn’t playing right before tip-off to the coaches surprise then took time off. His back wasn’t in the best shape if I remember correctly but he was also unhappy and was back in Miami for the bulk of that absence.

Very good points made here.

And I agree, if Kyrie doesn't want to play basketball anymore or wants to focus more on his activism etc... then that's all fine and dandy but leaving his teammates/organization high and dry without an explanation seems a little....... selfish? We all have contractual obligations. Just because he makes $30+ million a year doesn't mean he can simply neglect his contractual duties without repercussions.

I genuinely hate Kevin Durant (solely because of my Cavs fandom) but at this point I actually kind of feel bad for him.... He came to Brooklyn because of Kyrie... Now Kyrie is simply gone without an explanation (as far as we know anyway)





......... ok nevermind screw it, I can't feel bad for Kevin Durant

 

[daddywags]

Sorry Kevin. You make bad choices, you live with the consequences.

 

[Pioneer10]

Sorry Kevin. You make bad choices, you live with the consequences.

Bingo: anybody who thinks Deandre Jordan is going to be part of a big 3 is stup** errrr not making good basketball decisions

 

[Cavatt]

If you don't communicate properly with people, it is hard to argue that you are unfairly misunderstood.

Kyrie willfully destroyed goodwill everywhere he went. He literally could have done almost anything in Cleveland and been loved, but he went searching for something that he couldn't really find. Definitely the type of guy looking into the infinite for answers, but unable to look inside or see the context of himself within the team.

 

[Pioneer10]

If you don't communicate properly with people, it is hard to argue that you are unfairly misunderstood.

Kyrie willfully destroyed goodwill everywhere he went. He literally could have done almost anything in Cleveland and been loved, but he went searching for something that he couldn't really find. Definitely the type of guy looking into the infinite for answers, but unable to look inside or see the context of himself within the team.

In some ways he's lucky that Lebron has a black hole like gravitational pull on NBA news.

Really shitty that he went out of his way to diss Cleveland when the city and the franchise had done him no wrong and were proud of him as many expected him to the Cavs what Isiah was to the Pistons

 

[LeeBuckeye]

If you don't communicate properly with people, it is hard to argue that you are unfairly misunderstood.

Kyrie willfully destroyed goodwill everywhere he went. He literally could have done almost anything in Cleveland and been loved, but he went searching for something that he couldn't really find. Definitely the type of guy looking into the infinite for answers, but unable to look inside or see the context of himself within the team.

Kyrie's problem is not only his inability to communicate in a succinct and direct manner but also his inability to ingratiate himself with the sports media. Kyrie who is prone to conspiracy theories but backed off his flat earth theory dismissing it as a thought experiment yet he's been stigmatized by it. Meanwhile Steph Curry and other Warrior stated the moon landing was faked not too far after that and Steph joked that "they" meaning the media were gonna come for him but they never did. Lillard was pushing COVID propaganda on his twitter feed. Curry apologized and Lillard deleted the tweets and to my knowledge have not had to endure additional backlash or dismissals after those separate incidents. They're both emotionally more well-adjusted than Kyrie but also much more likeable among sports media members. Imagine if Kyrie was pushing videos with a fake doctors (same one the POTUS promoted) telling people they didn't need to wear masks and that alien DNA was in the vaccines that would make people less religious.

 

[Rich]

I honestly can't believe the two teams who are all-in on Harden.

The Nets are reportedly offering almost the exact same deal they offered for Pierce and Garnett. The one that completely blew up in their faces. And they're gonna do it again.

Then, you have Morey, who got a chance to build a different team a different way and he immediately sets about to doing the EXACT same thing he just tried to make work that didn't work?

He literally tried this Harden + best C in the league once before and it resulted in a couple of first round exits and one trip to the 2nd round.

 

[LeeBuckeye]

I honestly can't believe the two teams who are all-in on Harden.

The Nets are reportedly offering almost the exact same deal they offered for Pierce and Garnett. The one that completely blew up in their faces. And they're gonna do it again.

Then, you have Morey, who got a chance to build a different team a different way and he immediately sets about to doing the EXACT same thing he just tried to make work that didn't work?

He literally tried this Harden + best C in the league once before and it resulted in a couple of first round exits and one trip to the 2nd round.

If all it costs Philly is Ben Simmons and Thybulle then you have to do it. Embiid is on a completely different level at this stage of his career than Howard, who seemingly fell off his dominant status post Orlando with LA mixed in the middle. Embiid + Harden would make Philly the clear favorites IMO.

 

[Cavatt]

If all it costs Philly is Ben Simmons and Thybulle then you have to do it. Embiid is on a completely different level at this stage of his career than Howard, who seemingly fell off his dominant status post Orlando with LA mixed in the middle. Embiid + Harden would make Philly the clear favorites IMO.

Agreed.

If I was the Nets though I'd trade Kyrie instead. Lol. I do think they fit offensively if not defensively together Kyrie and Harden.